Environment | WPN World People News

Sea otters are key to the health of California’s kelp forests and the many other marine species—including shellfish and finfish—that depend on kelp forest habitat.

Ma Nge and her 10-year-old son stand outside the remains of their home in a small village in Ponnagyun township, Rakhine State. Cyclone Komen caused a tree to smash it down.

Two Medicine River from the Hall Creek trail.

The village of Qannaaq, Greenland, in the Arctic, is built on permafrost.

Global Geoparks are territories, which promote their geo-diversity through community-led initiatives to enhance regional sustainable development. They promote awareness of geological hazards and many help local communities prepare disaster mitigation strategies. They celebrate the 4.6-billion-year history of our Planet and the geo-diversity that has shaped every aspect of our lives societies.

The investment necessary to move toward 100% renewable energy by 2050 would be more than covered by future savings in fuel costs, according to a ground-breaking new report from Greenpeace, researched in collaboration with the German Aerospace Centre (DLR).

This is the year when the fight against climate change could take a dramatic turn. The conference in Paris in December presents political and business leaders with the opportunity to take the critical decisions needed if we are to keep average temperature rises to no more than 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius. According to the IPCC, humankind cannot emit more than 1,000 giga-tonnes of CO2 from now, if we are to stay within this limit. At the current and projected rate of consumption, this entire carbon budget will be used by 2040.

On September 18, outside the meeting of Europe’s Environment Ministers discussing the EU’s negotiating position for global climate talks in Paris in December, climate groups staged a symbolic ‘tug-of-war’ between polluting fossil fuels and renewable energy. They called for EU governments to join the side of citizens and build a 100% renewable future.

An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team of nuclear safety experts completed an assessment of operational safety on 17 September at the Dampierre Nuclear Power Plant in France.